Formal Logic (PHIL 205) Challenge Exam

The Philosophy Department provides students with the opportunity to achieve credit for the material covered in PHIL 205 (Formal Logic) by passing a Challenge Exam.

The examination for the Fall 2017 semester will be given on Saturday, August 19th, 2017 from 12:00-2:00pm in the Philosophy Lounge, HUM 392.

There are no fees for taking the exam itself. However, if you pass the exam, because you will then receive credit for the course, you will need to pay the university fees for the three units you will receive.

You will have two and a half hours to complete the examination. The examination will have two parts: on propositional logic and on predicate logic. Each part will have exercises both on symbolization and derivation. Below you will find the list of topics covered by the examination, two references of logic textbooks that should help you to review the material, and an example of Challenge Examination.

A. In order to pass this examination, you will need to be familiar with:

In propositional logic:

I.1) symbolization in propositional logic (translation from English sentences to Logic sentences and from Logic sentences to English sentences);

I.2) use of truth tables to determine the validity vs. invalidity of an argument, equivalence vs. non-equivalence between sentences, consistency vs. inconsistency of a set of sentences, and whether or not a sentence is logically true;

I.3) derivation of a sentence from a set of premises to prove the validity of an argument and derivation of a sentence from an empty set of premises to prove the logical truth of the sentence.

In predicate logic:

II.1) symbolization in predicate logic (translation from English sentences to Logic sentences and from Logic sentences to English sentences);

II.2) derivation of a sentence from a set of premises to prove the validity of an argument and derivation of a sentence from a empty set of premises to prove the logical truth of the sentence.

This book is very detailed, has lots of exercises and the solution for every other question is on CD-ROM normally available with the book (if you need it, contact Professor Peschard, peschard@sfsu.edu).

This book is less detailed, has a student-friendly writing style, and has lots of exercises with the solutions included in the book (see Solutions Manual for Volume 1 and Solutions Manual for Volume II).